Articles: analgesia.
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Clinical Trial
Post-operative epidural analgesia: effects on lung volumes.
A study was undertaken to assess the role of post-operative pain in reducing Functional Residual Capacity (FRC) and Vital Capacity (VC). The efficacy of post-operative epidural analgesia in reversing these changes was measured in eight subjects after upper abdominal operations. ⋯ These figures indicate the pain component in the post-operative reduction of these two lung capacities. This partial restoration may be of value in the prevention of post-operative pulmonary complications by avoiding closure of small airways during tidal breathing and by increasing the effectiveness of deep breathing and coughing in the removal of secretions and the reversal of atelectasis.
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In the cat, electrical stimulation of the inferior central nucleus of the raphe induces a powerful analgesia. This stimulation totally suppresses the behavioural reactions elicited by strong pinches applied to the tail or to the four limbs; it strongly modifies the threshold of the jaw opening reflex obtained by tooth pulp stimulation and considerably affects the behavioural reactions elicited by continuing such stimulation. ⋯ The analgesia obtained by stimulation of raphe nuclei seems to be sustained by serotoninergic mechanisms and relationships between these are discussed. In preliminary experiments, analgesia induced by CI stimulation has been suppressed by administration of naloxone, a specific opiate antagonist.